Tucker Carlson (Credit: Twitter)

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal is suing Fox News over Tucker Carlson’s claims she extorted Pres. Donald Trump.

The National Enquirer paid McDougal $150,000 for her story alleging an affair with Trump in 2006, but never published as part of a “catch and kill,” CNBC reported.

“FOX News will vigorously defend Tucker Carlson against these meritless claims,” a Fox News spokesperson told iMediaEthics. iMediaEthics has written to McDougal’s attorney.

Carlson said in a Dec. 2018 program:

“Two women approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn’t give them money. Now that sounds like a classic case of extortion.”

He also called the money McDougal received “extortion payments.”

The lawsuit was filed in New York Supreme Court and is available on the court’s website. “Although Carlson never mentions McDougal by name, it was obvious to a reasonable viewer who he was referring to particularly when Carlson put a picture of McDougal on the screen while reporting that she extorted Trump,” the lawsuit sates.

The lawsuit notes, “McDougal never approached Trump and threatened to ruin his career or humiliate his family if he did not give her money.”